Dracomon: That's right! All you Scales fans will be disappointed to know she probably won't be appearing in any more stories.

Me: But she has an excuse, she's getting married soon and has a new life ahead of her that I don't want to interrupt.

Dracomon: Master won't be writing about the marriage, but you can still send some wedding gifts if you want. We'll make sure they get to Scales and Arik.

Disclaimer: Sega owns Sonic, Shadow and all related characters. Several of the characters in this fic belong to Dic. I own one or two other things that'll show up later. Oh, and this is going to be serious SaTam bashing, so if you like the cartoon a lot, you may not like this.

Shadow was falling through the atmosphere, his fur starting to sizzle from the intense heat of reentry. "Maria………this is what you wanted, right? I've fulfilled your promise." He whispered weakly.

A voice rang out in his mind. Shadow, no!

Shadow blinked. "Maria?"

Shadow, this isn't what I wanted! There is no need for you to sacrifice yourself for me! Said Maria's voice.

"But Maria, I need you…I'm coming after you…" Shadow said.

Shadow, please listen! Forget about making the people of Earth happy or sacrificing yourself, I would rather prefer you to be happy! She begged.

The dark hedgehog was confused. "What do you mean?"

Shadow, I didn't die when I launched you from ARK. GUN found me and kept me from dying. But they didn't let me go. They…did horrible things to me. They didn't even let Grandpa know I was alive, they let him think I was dead so that he would have no reason to hope for escape. When he went mad and they killed him, they said I was no longer useful and…and… Maria tried to say.

"They killed you?" Shadow asked, hatred and rage starting to well up again.

Yes. She said solemnly. Shadow; forget the promise you made to me. It's not worth it anymore.

"But then what do you want of me?" he asked, unsure.

I want you to do whatever you want, Shadow. I want you to be free of any obligations you had to me, and to be happy. I want you to live your own life as you please, not as was originally intended for you. She said.

"But you said my purpose in life was to help the people of Earth!" he protested.

I was wrong. I see that now. You can protect the people if you want; after all it is your life. But I think there is something more waiting for you. Please forget the old promise, and make this one instead: that you will live life however you want to. She said.

Shadow gave in. "All right Maria. For you. I promise to live my life the way I want to live it."

Thank you Shadow. And she was gone.

Shadow winced in pain. The burning was really starting to hurt him. He had to save himself, and fast! He focused on the power of his Chaos Emerald. "Chaos…Control!" Unfortunately, this would prove to be a mistake. Due to the whole "falling through the atmosphere" thing, Shadow was unable to properly concentrate on the location he wanted to go to. As a result, the warp went faulty, causing a flash of purple light instead of green as he vanished from the upper reaches of the stratosphere.

He hurtled through a twisted, shimmering tunnel of light, screaming as he was tossed about. Where am I going? This isn't Earth! Someone, anyone, stop this! He screamed in his mind. Reacting to his thoughts, the green Chaos Emerald he clutched so tightly glowed. In another purple flash, Shadow was out of the strange tunnel. He was relieved for approximately .000000001 milliseconds before realizing he was still in the atmosphere, just several thousand miles closer to the planet's surface. He screamed as he began falling once again. He frantically tried to get his Emerald to work, to warp himself safely to the ground. "Chaos-" Before he could finish the command, his hand, beaten by the intense G-forces, accidentally let go of the precious gemstone. "NO!" The Chaos Emerald plummeted away from the falling hedgehog. "Well, I'm screwed then. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" He fell even faster to the surface of the Earth. He was thankful at least that he had rematerialized far enough inside the atmosphere so that he would not burn up in reentry. He had the feeling that it would have hurt a lot more than simply smashing into the ground so hard that his body would probably be reduced to a heap of goo. And so, after a few minutes of screaming his lungs out, he gave it up and resigned himself to what would most assuredly be his death.

He sighed. "I'm sorry Maria, looks like I couldn't keep my promise to you. Oh well, I was kind of hoping to see you again anyway." He looked down at where he was falling to, trying to maybe pick out some landmarks. "Huh, that's odd. I don't recall ever seeing a forest that big in any atlas I've looked at. And what's with that city? It looks more like some giant factory, judging from the amount of smoke being pumped out of it. Wonder where I am, anyway." He stayed quiet for a moment. "Perhaps I should try redirecting my descent a little, if I'm going to die I'd rather hit the ground of a forest than a city. After all, I don't want to gross anyone out with my gruesome death." Using about a hundred or so Homing Attacks and a couple of aerial Fire Somersaults, Shadow managed to position himself over the giant forest. "There, that's better. Nothing to do now but wait to embrace death." He closed his eyes, not wanting to look down any longer. After maybe twenty minutes of eventless freefall, Shadow, now falling at about seven-eighths the speed of sound, fell below tree level. Eyes tightly shut, he passed by the very tall trees and smashed into the ground. The entire forest shook for about a mile around, alerting its inhabitants that something was wrong.

Hours later, Shadow woke up. He was at the bottom of a small crater. "Whoa, that was a rush!" he said to himself. He got to his feet and was astonished to find that aside from a few disjointed bones, he was completely unharmed. He snapped the disjointed bones back into their rightful positions, keeping himself from yelping. He climbed from the crater and looked over himself again. He was, as I said before, completely unscratched. He wasn't bleeding, his shoes weren't busted, hell; his quills weren't even singed or out of place! "I guess I really am the Ultimate Lifeform." He said finally. "There's no way I could have possibly survived that otherwise." His sensitive hearing picked up something approaching.

Shadow quickly hid behind a tree as two anthropomorphs came through some bushes, stopping at the edge of the crater. His eyes widened in surprise. The two were Sonic and that weird fox, what was his name? Ah yes, Tails. But no, it couldn't have been them! How could they have gotten off the colony so fast? Besides, there was something distinctly different about the two of them. The blue faker looked a little chubbier and slightly younger than Shadow remembered. His quills were also shorter, and his eyes were brown instead of green. Also, his shoes were simple red trainers that didn't look like they could allow the hedgehog to grind at all. In fact, they looked like they were barely even good enough for running. As for the fox, Tails looked much younger than he should have. The kitsune only looked about eight or nine years old. What was going on here? "Wow Tails, check out this way past cool crater!" said the blue hedgehog that most certainly did not sound anything like Sonic.

"Yeah, it's sure big!" said Tails in a voice that sounded even younger and more annoying than the fox Shadow remembered. "But what made it, Sonic?"

The hedgehog that seemed to be Sonic shrugged. "Search me. But Sally said to find what made that small earthquake because it could be a meteor, or an asteroid, or a satellite, or one of Buttnik's missiles, or an airplane, or a bomb, or some new earthquake machine, or a digging metal monster!"

"Is that what Aunt Sally actually said?" asked Tails.

"Word for word, little bro." Said Sonic.

"Well, where's the thing that made the crater then?" asked Tails innocently.

Sonic looked around the area, then peered into the hole. "I don't see anything, Tails. Ah, let's just go home. I want some chili dogs!"

"But didn't Sally say not to come back until we found out what made the crater?" asked Tails.

Thought Shadow. Maybe there I can find out where I am and get some help in retrieving my Emerald! I'm pretty sure it fell into that big city place, it should be easy to find once I get there. "Wait up!" he said, stepping out from behind the tree.

Shadow blinked. Mobius? Wait a minute. Weird tunnel with swirling lights, purple Chaos Control, dorkier versions of Tails and Faker, big forest I've never heard of, planet that is not called Earth…dear God, I'm trapped in another dimension! Must have been because I was unable to focus on where I wanted to go to when I was falling from space. He thought.

Shadow snapped out of his thoughts and swatted Sonic's hand away. Tails screamed and cowered, trying to make himself too small to be seen behind Sonic. "I'm fine blue hedgehog. Look, I'm a long way from home and need a way to get back. When I was falling, I dropped a very important gemstone that probably survived the drop. I believe it landed somewhere in that city right outside your forest."

Sonic gasped. "It landed in the city? Oh no, that means Robotnik must have it!"

"Robotnik?" asked Shadow, chiding himself a moment later. Of course there's a Robotnik, this is obviously some sort of weird parallel universe! Where there's a blue faker and a weird fox with two tails, there must be a fat man! "I need that jewel back. Do you think you can help me retrieve it from the city?"

Sonic frowned. "Well, I don't know. Robotropolis is a very, very dangerous place. We'll need to talk to Sally and see what we can do. What is this jewel anyway? Would it be dangerous in the hands of a madman?"

"It's a Chaos Emerald, a jewel with infinite energy that can be used to power just about anything." Explained Shadow.

Sonic gasped. "Then we have to make a mission to retrieve it! If Robotnik gets this Emerald thingy, he could take over the rest of Mobius with it!"

Shadow frowned. "Mission? Can't you just tell me where the city is so I can go get it myself?"

Sonic shook his head. "No! Robotropolis is dangerous for anyone less cool than me, which would include you! Come on, we've got to get back to Knothole and tell everyone, if Robotnik finds that Chaos Emerald who knows what could happen?"

"Snively!" yelled the corpulent man. Dr. Robotnik was a very large human, with a big red bodysuit that covered most of his fat form, a yellow cape, and a robotic left arm. He was ugly, with a bald head, big orange moustache, metal ear things, and black orbs for eyes.

"What is it sir?" grumbled Snively, the small man who was even uglier than his boss. Snively was short, had a long needle nose, and ugly sweater, and an almost bald head with a few hairs sticking up here and there.

Robotnik held up the glowing green Chaos Emerald. "Snively, this jewel fell out of the sky and hit me on the head! I want you to find out what it is, so I can break it for hurting my noggin!"

Snively groaned. "As you command, Lord Robotnik."

The fat dictator threw the Emerald at Snively's head. "Find out what this thing is before my nap is done or I'll tickle you until you start to bleed!" He left the control room haughtily.

Snively raised an eyebrow. "'Tickle me until I start to bleed?' Great, he's losing it." Cluck, the yellow robot chicken that always accompanied Robotnik squawked, pecked Snively several times on the head, and flew after its master. Snively's eye twitched. "That accursed chicken…WHEN I DETHRONE MY FAT FOOL OF AN UNCLE AND BECOME LORD OF ALL MOBIUS, I'LL MAKE SURE YOU'RE DISMANTLED AND THROWN IN THE SCRAPHEAP!"

Robotnik, who had been in hearing range outside the control room, came back in. "Snively, are you yelling at my pet chicken and plotting to overthrow me and take over Mobius?" he asked.

"Uh, no sir!" said Snively nervously.

"Oh, okay then. Get that jewel analyzed!" barked Robotnik. He left the room. Cluck pecked on Snively's head again and flew away. Snively gritted his teeth, growling furiously.

Me: So, do you like the first chapter of this new story? It's supposed to be stupid, so don't worry.

Dracomon: Master, we have new reviews from Ultrafan X for Scales Adventure 2! He has a wedding present for Scales and Arik!

Me: What? Show me!

Dracomon: (Pulls out Pez dispenser with Shadow's head on it.) He says this thing can be used to go anywhere, do anything, and create anything during Scales and Arik's honeymoon. It possesses the power of something called Fanfic Control.

Me: Well, send it to the couple, they'll get it on their wedding day.

Dracomon: Yes Master! (Leaves to mail Pez dispenser.)

Me: Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please leave a review.

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.